German Artists' Writings in the XX Century - 4
Lovis Corinth
The Handbook 'Learning to Paint'. Part One
Review by Francesco Mazzaferro
[Original Version: November 2014 - New Version: April 2019]
Fig. 1) The first version of the The Handbook 'Learning to
Paint', published by Paul Cassirer in 1908. Source: https://archive.org/details/daserlernenderma00cori_0/page/n6
|
Lovis Corinth
was an educated painter, well-read, even in the context of aesthetic theory. Instead,
he was not - by his own admission – an elegant writer. His theoretical work
cost him therefore much trouble, although he was particularly passionate for
writing. It included a teaching handbook on painting (published in 1908 and
still on the market), a monograph written in 1910 about the life of the painter
Walter Leistikow (the animator of the Berlin Secession, perhaps his only true
friend) and 200 pages of essays in journals, speeches and other works, which
were collected and published by Fritz Gurlitt in 1920. After a stroke in 1911, his
literary production slowed down (as opposed to the painting, which continued
running at essentially the same pace), but was not stopped. Particularly
important were some lessons and speeches on art he gave to the German youth, in
1914, the first year of World War II, when almost everyone in Germany thought
that the conflict would be resolved in a few weeks, with the full affirmation
of the German army (and Germany’s culture, including its arts) in Europe.
Corinth, therefore, obviously cultivates educational
interests (I am repeating what I already said on the autobiographical writings:
he had founded an art school for female painters in Berlin). On the other hand,
he is at the very centre of the discussions on aesthetics of his time:
naturalism, symbolism, idealism, traditional and modern art, abstract and
figurative painting. In this post and in other subsequent ones we will try to
give the reader an overall picture of artistic theory by Corinth, and to
contrast it with the streams of thought of his time. We will do this by
analysing his theoretical works, even comparing them to the writings of other
artists of the previous decades and of his time. Finally, we will focus our
attention on his relationship with Italian art, both the classical one and the one
which was contemporary to him.
Let us start with the handbook Learning
to paint [1], a work which, if had a good publishing fortune, does not
seem to have been the subject of a careful critical analysis. The unique,
short, study in this regard is by Eberhard Ruhmer, who has devoted a few pages
only to the handbook in an essay on Corinth
as a student and as a teacher, for the catalogue of a 1975 exhibition held
in Munich [2].
Ruhmer writes that the two sources of
inspiration for Corinth were the Laocoon
of Lessing (1766) and the “Painting and
drawing” of his contemporary Max Klinger
(1891), a symbolist painter. The drafting of the manuscript began in 1907 on
the beach of the popular German seaside resort of Timmerdorfer Strand, in the
Baltic Sea, aided by the bad weather which forced the tourists to stay indoors,
and prevented especially Corinth to paint outdoors.
The fact is confirmed by evidence in the
massive collection of documents published by his son Thomas in 1979 [3]. That
documentation reveals that the book was written in just over a month, during a
series of trips. The painter told his wife that he found real difficulties in
writing; but Charlotte was not only a trusted confidant: the drawings in the
book were in fact her own work and not of Lovis, who corresponded to her a
regular fee to make them [4].
Ruhmer illustrates the structure of the
work, and takes the view that the most interesting part is the last chapter,
entitled 'The image' (Das Bild), both
for the wealth of quotations (Marées, Feuerbach, Delacroix, Leibl, Lessing,
Schopenhauer and many others) as well as because it reveals that the painting
school of Corinth twinned absolute seriousness in studies with a very personal
twist in pedagogy. The painter shaped in fact rules and curriculum basing them
on his own art preferences. Noteworthy, in the opinion of Ruhmer, the great
importance which Corinth attaches to the knowledge of the history of art by his
students. Corinth never ceases to invite them to draw from history, literature,
and religious writings regarding the choice of the subjects of the pictures,
but does not prohibit either the use of motifs from modern life. In the area of
portrait, Corinth recalls how necessary is to know well the personality of the
models, and then he notes that the best portraits are often those of people you
know (including yourself). By way of conclusion, Ruhmer observes that Corinth
combined severity and tolerance: nothing can be left to chance and everything
has to be hardly learned. At the same time, the goal must be to achieve
independence and freedom of style.
With all due respect, it is an overly
simplistic reading of Corinth’s handbook. Since no other essay or article
appeared on the handbook, it seems important to look into it more closely.
‘Learning to paint’ (1908)
Learning to paint was the first
book published by the publishing house Pan-Presse
owned by Paul Cassirer. We are in 1908 Berlin. Corinth is positioned exactly in
the cultural and aesthetic centre of the Berlin Secession, and therefore one of
the most significant movements in the German and European art of that era. The handbook
- which aims at documenting the teaching method used by Lovis Corinth in his
school for painting women - is however actually addressed to a much wider
audience. Corinth presents it, in the introduction, simply as a "plan of
study" (Lehrplan), and explains
that the book describes one of many possible paths to become painters [5]. The
conclusions of the book are more ambitious, and reaffirm (as it is done
continuously in the book) that the objective of becoming an artist can only be
achieved through "the hardest efforts" and "the highest
goals", since the end goal is to gain the independence of style [6]. Both
at the beginning and at the end of the book, the author apologizes to the
reader for his own writing style [7].
The handbook was a great editorial success, despite the doubts of Corinth on the readability of the text (his doubts were, frankly speaking, much exaggerated in my view. It does not seem impossible to read it. Although it is written in the German language of a hundred years ago, it can still be finished in a few evenings). A reprint was immediately ordered in 1909. Two new editions followed with Corinth still alive, with additions by the author (1920 and 1925); the handbook was regularly reprinted in the twentieth century, including the most recent edition, edited by Yvonne Schwarzer in 2008. There was no other translation into foreign languages but the Serbian one in 1979.
The first to review the work on the
fortnightly magazine Die Kunst für alle
(Art for All) [8], was his friend and painter Walter Leistikow. Die Kunst für alle was a publication
devoted to the German bourgeoisie, with the stated aim of spreading the
knowledge of the most traditional artistic trends among the contemporary works
of art, i.e. those who were not at the forefront of innovation, like cubism,
abstraction and the dada. Here are the words of Leistikow: "Who would have
thought that this modern painter could hide so much of academia?" The
phrase has a meaning that can and should be shared, but (as we shall see) only as
long as we agree on how to interpret it.
 |
| Fig. 2) The cover of the handbook (here in a 1920 edition by Bruno Cassirer, Berlin) |
Leistikow’s words certainly capture the central aspect of the handbook written by his friend: Corinth was an innovator in painting (he was often contested by critics and audiences) and yet he was firmly rooted in the classical educational setting. The comparison that immediately comes to mind is the famous manual of harmony by Arnold Schoenberg [9], the inventor of the twelve-tone technique, published in Leipzig in 1910: well, the inventor of a completely revolutionary new musical language wrote in those years one of the most classic manuals on the musical language of the previous age, as saying that only those who know the classical art of music writing can be real revolutionaries.
Corinth specifies in the title that his one is a
handbook; so, neither a treaty nor an essay on aesthetics. The emphasis of the handbook
of Corinth is all about teaching. Yet, the text is anything but dry technique.
The aesthetic issues - already mentioned - that will be central in the other
writings of Corinth leave an important trace also in this work.
The author also announces that his own will
not be a handbook covering every aspect; explains that it will take care of
drawing and painting only, and announces that there will be no room for other
subjects such as perspective, anatomy, and art history [10]. To make a
comparison, in the same year of 1908, a handbook was released by Ernst
Kiesling, entitled Wesen und Technik der
Malerei; ein Handbuch für Künstler und Kunstfreunde (Substance and
technique of painting techniques: a handbook for artists and art lovers) [11] that programmatically encompasses a
wider coverage of the issues (colour, composition, perspective, techniques). In
some respects, however, Corinth is excessively modest: the study of the human
figure (especially the nude) allows him to introduce all the topics just mentioned
above.
We are trying to identify the leitmotifs of
the manual of Corinth, following - as much as possible - its logic.
The central role of light
At the very heart of the study is the
light. To be exact, at the very centre are light, shadow, reflected shadow [12]
and the reflection of light [13], the four elements that create an alteration
in tone from light to dark and thus the illusion of corporeal objects [14]. Light
becomes light only through shadow [15]. The shapes themselves of the objects
are created – to the eye of the painter - by lights and shadows only [16], and
it is the task of painting to create the impression that the objects
represented on the painted surface are surrounded by light.
The entire handbook is therefore structured
- in dealing with the matter - according to the light conditions, with the
first chapter reserved for painting with interior lighting conditions and the
second painting of all that is exposed to daylight. The third chapter deals
with the image in general.
The centrality of the study of light in the
curriculum of the painter differentiates the manual of Corinth from other manuals
of the time [17], all centred on learning the use of colours. Let us face it: when
setting the manual, Corinth combines two streams of art history [18]. The first
is French impressionism, with the central importance of consistent and subtle
variations of light on objects: this influence is evident in the second
chapter, on outdoors drawing and painting. The second is the effect of the
poetic world of Rembrandt and the Flemish painters, very strong in the first
chapter, the one that relates to indoors drawing and painting.
Indoor drawing and painting
To identify lights and shadows accurately
(and therefore to find the cardinal points of the shapes to trace their design)
Corinth recommends a technique that is called "clignez les yeux": it is about squinting (or even beating the
eyes quickly). This allows the eyes - he writes [19] - to better focus the
image, like with the lens of a camera (Corinth was a big fan of new technologies,
like cameras or cars). What to us may seem like an oddity plays a very
important part of the manual of Corinth; the technique is mentioned many times
[20]. It is, in fact, a ploy used by French painters since the 1860s, with two
purposes: on the one hand to simplify the image, lowering the level of detail,
and on the other hand to reduce the effect of other colours to better identify
forms. In his 1903 essay entitled “Fantasy in painting” (Die Phantasie in der Malerei), Max Liebermann credited Corot with
the invention of the technique, which would have adopted it in order to
identify the large masses in nature [21]. Therefore, in addition to the
impressionist influence and the one of the Flemish, we capture here motives of the
French classical landscape painting.
Illusionism and unreal
Art has a strong effect of illusion, not
only in the sense that the work of art must be thought vertically, opposite to
the natural pattern, (something already said by Leon Battista Alberti in De Pictura) [22], but that the whole
painting is an exercise in unreality (Unwirklichkeit).
The definition of unreality is similar to that of pure artistic creation, in
particular the literary one. Corinth will also write it later on in his
Autobiography, published in 1926: "I found a new definition: the real art
is to exercise the unreal. The highest level of art. The ''unreal 'is in
Shakespeare in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', in' Hamlet 'and everywhere in his
work. Even Goethe is full of 'unreal' in the Egmont. Bad is that art that
shows in full the way it has to mean. Leibl himself is 'unreal' in his more
complete work." [23].
To this same category of fictional ‘unreality’
belongs a long series of portraits and self-portraits where the person is
portrayed in époque’s costumes, or in situations that evoke theatrical acting.
The scholar Michael F. Zimmermann [24] as more generally expressed the view that all
references to the history of Corinth should be read as a form of 'fiction' and of
masquerade.
The study of the nude
The study of art has its start with the drawing
of the human body based on the reproduction of gypsum models, because this is
where you can discover the shades of light and dark, without any distinction of
colour [25], and because the study of light and shade allows the understanding
of the absolute form [26]. You should then move on to the study of the nude,
"because the skin tone, despite the differences in colour, is equally
clear [27]." In short, the beginning of the study of art is all an effort
not to make any use of colour [28], and to make use in the design of the
modelling techniques used for sculpture. Again, there is an obvious reference
to art history, and in particular the techniques of Auguste Rodin, all centred
on the study of a nude model (the science
of the model) and the concept of the statue as a "prodigious symphony of
black and white.” Paul Gsell says that Rodin advices to illuminate the statue at
night with a lamp in order to identify the forms in the play of light and
shadow [29]; similarly Corinth instructs students to analyse the forms of
painting based on the entire tone of light and shadow, without any use of colour.
The disciple has to give the utmost
importance to learning the techniques of drawing, focusing on the proportion of
all parts of the body and the body as a whole, according to educational codes
that reaffirm classical models, mediated through the academic training in East
Prussia, Paris and Munich. After all, in the four years at the Académie Julian
(1884-1887), Corinth studied with masters such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau
(1825-1905) who are clearly oriented towards classical styles and educational methods
(they are the so-called masters of the Art
Pompier, with a derogatory expression that maybe should be revisited today).
This explains the influence of Ingres, and of French classicism, on Corinth.
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| Fig. 3) Charlotte Berend-Corinth, drawing for Learning to paint by Lovis Corinth, in the chapter on 'the construction of the nude'. |
It may seem surprising that Corinth had
imported from France, after the four-year stay in Paris, a mainly
pre-impressionist educational background. Mario-Andrea von Lüttichau studied
this point in an essay for the catalogue of the 2008 retrospective exhibition in
Paris (Musée d'Orsay), Leipzig and Regensburg (in occasion of the 150th
anniversary of the painter’s birth) [30]. From his analysis comes out that
Corinth had no contact with the impressionists and post-impressionists during
the years of training in Paris [31]. The only exhibition in Paris where he was
able to see the post-impressionists was the "Salon des Independants" in 1884 (Seurat and Signac were
exposed there). Von Lüttichau endorses what Corinth wrote in a letter [32],
according to which he would not have even really realised the existence of the
Impressionists, during the years in France. The impressionism of Corinth thus
derives from his interpretation of French (Courbet, Millet) and German (Leibl)
naturalism, as a dialectical form of acceptance and overcoming of academicism, more
that from the direct influence of the French Impressionists on him. Of course,
the centrality of the theme of light in his handbook proves a subsequent
theoretical reflection, which probably owes much to the French masters of
Impressionism.
Sensuality and models
Painting - which in many other texts of
that period is treated as a scientific discipline – is instead for Corinth a
purely sensual activity, whose centre is the interaction between the eye and
the mind of the painter. It is significant that Corinth refers to sensual perceptions
and not simply to sensory ones (sinnliche
Wahrnemungen des Auges - the sensual perceptions of the eye). The direct
consequence of this is that, while the other texts of the time focus on the
study of painting materials in their chemical composition, Corinth is concerned
with the right choice of models. Consider, again, the technique of Rodin, who let
men and women walk nude in his studio for hours, in search of a sudden
inspiration. Corinth explains to the students that it is from good models, and
not good materials, that the quality of the painting depends [37]. In a manner
entirely consistent with this educational view, Corinth has often made use of easily
recognizable models, who come from the inner circle of his friends.
Design as the foundation of art
Design is the foundation of art [38] and
"simply means the exact representation of the model" (the same task
also has painting, although through the use of other materials [39]). The
concept is repeated later on: both design and painting are intended to
represent as accurately as possible the nature: the attitude of the artist must
be "to follow so seriously as possible all the forms and features of the
model" (das ernste Verfolgen aller
Charaktereigentümlichkeiten und Formen des Modells) [40]. The equivalence
of drawing and painting - not in terms of technique but of purpose - is
reflected in Corinth by the fact that his oil paintings not only have been
(obviously) preceded by drawings, but have also been translated later on in the
form of works graphics, in order to test new variants.
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| Fig. 4) Charlotte Berend-Corinth: design for Learning to paint by Lovis Corinth, from the chapter on the "Construction of the nude" |
Painting as a translation of nature
Painting has the function to translate the
natural reality. Translating is meant in the literal sense, different from
reproducing, because no combination of colours has the ability to represent
nature in a completely faithful way: in fact, "there is no colour that has
the same lighting power as light or the clear depth as shadow" [44]. The painter must learn to elect and attune
the right colours, whether warm or cold [45].
The
nude as pure object, and the role of the human figure
The nude is the pure object [46]. As we
shall see, it is the study of the nude - through the three elements of the
attitude (Auffassung), the construction
and the architectural nature of the body - to allow the construction of a pictorial
composition. It is the nude, as a tool to dominate light and shadow and the
whole tone of light and dark, to teach even the design of the landscape [47].
It is the nude, through the study of techniques to achieve the foreshortening,
to allow the acquisition of techniques on perspective [48].
Since the essence of drawing and painting
is represented by the naked human figure [49], the first task of the artist is
to understand the right distribution of the body in space (i.e. on the surface
[50]). Through the mediation of French classicism, we are here back to the
Renaissance world, where the man is again the measure of all things. What a
difference with many other modern art streams, contemporary to Corinth!
Consider that Cubism was launched exactly in 1907-1908 and that only a few
years later - also in Germany - Wassily Kandinsky publishes the founding text
of abstract art, entitled “On spirituality in art” (Über das Geistige in der Kunst), in 1912.
All painting techniques derive from
learning the techniques of drawing the human nude [51]. The techniques of
representation of the human figure are discussed in great detail. Despite what
written by the painter in the handbook’s introduction, where he stated (as
already mentioned) that the object would be limited to drawing and painting
(and thus excludes perspective, anatomy and art history [52]), he gives great
attention to human anatomy as the basis of the drawing [53].
Geometric
representation of the human body and foreshortening
Crucial are both the idea of geometrization
of the human body [54], as well as the study of the view of the human body [55].
The geometrical representation of the human body has the purpose of organizing
the representation of the surface [56]. Corinth speaks of the necessity to
"nurture the surface" [57], and explains that "everything must
be seen as a surface." [58] The foreshortening of the human body is
the base of perspective and creates depth. The two methods of drawing the human
body, in combination, are attempting to integrate the same modern compositional
requirements of Cezanne into a traditional figurative world [59].
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| Fig. 5) Charlotte Berend-Corinth, design for the handbook Learning to paint by Lovis Corinth, in the section 'The foreshortening' 1908 |
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| Fig. 6) Charlotte Berend-Corinth, design for the handbook Learning to paint by Lovis Corinth, in the section “The foreshortening' 1908 |
Drawing, painting and composition must be initiated
by the painter from the middle of the head [60], torso [61], body [62] and image
as a whole [63]. The painter must identify the midline of the body, one that
divides it into equal parts [64]. Ancient techniques are proposed that are
based on the use of parallel horizontal lines and vertical lines.
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| Fig. 7) Charlotte Berend-Corinth, design for the handbook Learning to paint by Lovis Corinth, in the section 'The construction of the nude', 1908 |
The figure is and must remain the main
element of the picture, even when it is inserted into a background and the
landscape [65]. It is ironic that when (around 1975), critics have finally discovered
the central role of the human figure in the compositions of Corinth (550 compositions,
or half of its production, can be classified as a Figurenbild, i.e. an image consisting of figures, writes Peter Hahn
[66]), this handbook has not been used by scholars as a theoretical text to
explain that importance. Indeed, the centrality of the human figures in the
paintings (which comes up to occupy the entire surface) had been the most
difficult factor to integrate into a concept of modernity, for the critics
since Corinth’s time until the 1970s.
Let us see how the role of the human figure
is interpreted by art historians in two major exhibitions of 1975 and 1976
(fifty years after the artist's death). Siegfried Gohr, in his essay ‘The image
of the figure in the works of Corinth’ (Das
Figurenbild im Werke Corinths) [67] refers
to the German academic tradition of the Historienmaler
(painters of history), which had been absolutely crucial for art
development of the XIX century throughout German-speaking Europe, but existed
throughout Europe (the 'pittori di storia' in Italian art). Peter Hahn speaks
of "the image of the figure of the literary genre" (Figurenbild), inspired by admiration for
the masters of the history of the past, and identifies 166 examples in the reasoned
catalogue of the artist. Hahn also mentions the introduction to the catalogue
of an exhibition in 1913, where Corinth himself writes: "The history of
art is based on the construction of the present on the models of the past, and
I remain true to my models": an act of devotion to his academic training.
What appeared in the seventies as a discovery, it is today universally
recognised. In 2008, 150 years after his birth, Michael Zimmermann devoted an
entire chapter of his Corinth essay on "Corinth as a scene painter with
many figures" [68].
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| Fig. 9) Charlotte Berend-Corinth, design for the handbook Learning to paint by Lovis Corinth, in the section 'The foreshortening' 1908 |
Not surprisingly, Corinth has exercised his
greatest influence on those painters of the second half of the twentieth
century who rediscovered the figurative nude. The catalogue of the 2008 exhibition
for Paris, Leipzig and Regensburg [69] exemplifies this influence by comparing
the Reclined female nude of Corinth (1907 - fig. 26) with works by Philipp Pearlstein (1924-)
and Lucian Freud (1922-2011). It seems to us that - after the second half of
the XX century - the influence of Corinth has continued. With the neo-realism
of Kent Williams (http://www.kentwilliams.com/)
we even get to the last generation of American artists, the one who
rediscovered realistic figurative painting. See the sites http://www.figurativepainters.com/
and http://www.figurativeartist.org/.
GO TO PART TWO
NOTES
[1] Corinth,
Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei. Ein
Handbuch, Berlin, Paul Cassirer, 1908. The page numbering
of citations in the following notes refers to the 2008 edition, published by
Ars Momentum Kustverlag, Witten, and edited by Yvonne Schwarzer, since it is
available on the market. The edition I read was a reprint of the original,
always published in 1920 by Paul Cassirer. The 1920 edition is also freely available
on the Internet
[2] Ruhmer,
Eberhard - Corinth als Schüler und als Lehrer, in: Lovis Corinth 1858-1925. Gemälde und Druckgraphik (Lovis Corinth 1858-1925. Painting and
Graphics), Munich, Prestel Verlag, 1975, pp. 93-101. The exhibition was held at
the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, the municipal museum of Munich (http://www.lenbachhaus.de/?L=1),
specialized in modern art.
[3] Lovis Corinth. Eine Dokumentation, edited by Thomas Corinth,
Tübingen, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, 1979, pp. 572
[4] The fact is indirectly confirmed
in the huge documentation (Lovis Corinth. Eine Dokumentation) collected by his
son Thomas and published by the editor Ernst Wasmuth, Tübingen in 1979. See the
letter of 16 August 1807 on page 114, which speaks for the first time on the
book (Corinth had been left alone in the resort town with his 3-year old son
Thomas, while his wife was in Berlin). On September 5, Corinth sent a second
letter from Kassel to his wife (p.114), reassuring her that writing the book is
progressing, and that in parallel must make a copy of a painting by Franz Hals
(Young man with Fedora), which still is now in that city at the Museum of the
Castle of Wilhelmshöhe. The drafting of the book, however, subtracts time to
painting, and to copying Hals. It reads: "Again, I do not want to copy.
But I will need to do it." (It was a commission from a rich customer in
New York). Corinth continues the book in Mainz (on 7th September)
and Assmannshausen am Rhein (September 9) in the Rheingau (the beautiful region
between Mainz and Koblenz). From here he wrote to his wife: "I still write
my book. This is the reason why I could not write more often to you. You have
no idea how this continuous manufacturing of words [Wortefabrizieren] imposes
solitude on me. And how difficult it is. Now to the book is missing only the
conclusion: the types of oil painting and the last words "(p. 115). From a
restaurant in Düsseldorf, on 13th September, Corinth wrote to his
wife: "I was about to forget the most important thing: I just finished
'Learning to paint' - hurray, hurray, and hurray again! Now you can start
your work with the drawings. I am increasing your fee, but I do not think it
will be easy nevertheless"(p. 116). The letter - his son Thomas wrote -
reveals that the drawings in the book were produced by her mother, and her
father has really paid a fee for that.
[5] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p.
7 “So, after trying to clarify what is
the very essence of painting, I have proposed in this book a study plan (Studienplan) that would allow - if
followed - to reach a certain level in painting. I would like to stress that my
teaching must not necessarily represent the only path to achieve this purpose,
but only one of many." The same idea is found in the conclusion: "I
will not arrogate the pride to have shown in this book the only road that leads
to blessing in art." (p. 107)
[6] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 7 and 107.
[7] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, cit., pp. 7
and 107. "To give account of his own knowledge and activity is a far more
difficult task than one might think. Just the basic points, which one can
consider as obvious after a long practice (and of which beginners and those who
have a more recent art practice do not have any practical experience) are not
as easy to put into words to be understood by all." "I have now come
to an end. All sorts of doubts assail me, fears about the lack of style of my writing,
characterized by plenty of repetitions, which I introduced intentionally from
time to time, to emphasise important points. Well, the book is addressed to respect
veracity, and then my language, whether more or less limping, becomes
irrelevant. After all, this must be a manual, and not an entertainment book."
[8] Die Kunst für alle, Issue 15, 1 May 1908, pp. 351-354. See http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kfa1907_1908/0388?sid=3202649213350093479501e15fd402a9
[9] Schoenberg, Arnold - Harmonielehre, Leipzig,Universal Edition AG, 1911. See: https://archive.org/details/harmonielehre00schgoog
[10] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 9
[12] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 10:
“The part of an object shown by the light (whether sun, moon, or an artificial
light) acquires a certain shape according to the constitution of its surface.
Similarly, the same happened with shadow, which is the part of the object that
is subtracted to light. The whole body also produces the reflected shadow,
falling either on the ground or on another body in its vicinity, and thus it envelops
into darkness a part of the environment around.”
[13] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p. 21: “The reflex is a clearing of the shadow by a bright object,
which reflects its light on the nude. The reflection should always be seen as a
shadow. With half-closed eyes you can assess that the reflection is lower in
tone than the shades of light and the bright median shades”.
[14] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p. 10: “Another degree of the design is the observation of how
the gradation of these simple types of light, shade and reflected shadow
produce a variation of tonal values, making it possible to view an entire
scale, from lightest to darkest, depending on the multiplicity of forms. in
this way the illusion of corporeality is realised. The technical term is taken
from the sculpture, where everything is round and can be gripped: modelling.”
[15] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 44.
[16] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p. 10: “Drawing means recognising and reproducing the forms of
an object, which are created by light and shadow, in bright and dark (black and
white) without reference to any specific colouring.”
[17] In 1879 the American physicist Ogden
Nicholas Rood published his manual "Modern chromatics, with applications
to art and industry" (https://archive.org/details/cu31924031167889), which
will have a major impact on European art (impressionism included) after it was translated
first in German (1880, Die moderne
Farbenlehre mit Hinweisung auf ihre Benutzungen in Malerei und Kunstgewerbe)
and later on in French (1881, Théorie
scientifique des couleurs et leurs applications à l'art et à l'industrie.
see https://archive.org/details/thoriescientifi01roodgoog) and German). The
Italian edition is of 1986 only (La
scienza moderna dei colori, edited by Mara Borzone, Roma, Il Bagatto, 1986).
For years, the reference in Europe was
the manual - in French - of Jehan Georges Vibert 1891, entitled ‘The Science of
Painting’ (La Science de la Peinture).
It reads: "The painter must get from his colours - depending on the
different techniques in which he spreads or superimposes them, using oils and
paints - all the effects of transparency, opacity, gloss and damped, which the
light produces." (https://archive.org/details/lasciencedelapei00vibe)
The manual ‘Technique of painting. Manual for artists and amateurs’ (Technik der Malerei, Handbuch für ein
Künstler und Dilettanten) was published by the architect and artist Paul
Schultze-Naumburg in Leipzig in 1900 (he will became the black soul of German the
art sources history in the thirties, theorizing Nazi art). It begins like this:
"In order to understand the effect of the colours when painting and to
fully utilise the tools of painting, it is necessary to recall some of the laws
of optics, and, further, chemistry, which apply to any painting technique" (http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0008/bsb00081959/images/index.html?id=00081959&fip=xdsydeayaxseayasdasfsdreayaewqyztsfsdrxdsyd&no=8&seite=10).
Even the manual “The technique of painting” by the divisionist painter Italian
Gaetano Previati, written in 1905, begins with a reference to colour: "The
techniques of painting embrace the practices necessary to give consistency and
durability to the paintings, and those guiding principles behind which the
'artist can transform the elements suitable for colouring in imitation of
lights and colours which are natural things." https://archive.org/details/latecnicadellap00prevgoog.
[18] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p. 9. The manual of Corinth opens, on page 9, with a
definition of painting that - quite differently from other manuals - does not
mention the word colour. "It is called painting the art which is able to
recreate in an illusionistic way (täuschen)
on a surface those actions that the eye observes in nature: figurative scenes
or landscapes, descriptions of the interior, in the foreground and the
background. In particular, it will recreate them in such a way that all the
objects that are free in nature are also surrounded by nature and appear to be
fully placed in it, including all the characteristics of the soil, and in such
a way that they appear to move back and forth, so that an effect of depth would
materialise.”
[19] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 13
[20] Summing up on the study of the
nude, Corinth writes: "Let us take to heart all the methods that I have
introduced in order to learn art: let us continuously check – by squinting -
that large forms are not damaged by the fact of giving too emphasis on
individual parts; and in this way let us model light and shadow with bright and
tender colours together." (p. 27).
[21] Liebermann, Max – Die Phantasie in der Malerei (The phantasy
in painting), Bruno Cassirer,
1916. See: https://archive.org/details/diephantasieinde00liebuoft)
[22] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 9
[23] Corinth, Lovis – Selbstbiographie, Leipzig, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1993, p. 216.
[24] Zimmermann, Michael F. – Lovis Corinth, Munich, Verlag C.H. Beck, 2008
[25] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 11
[26] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 11
[27] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 11
[28] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 21. “To reproduce the nude in its right shades, I am
referring again to the initial model, the gypsum. Let us consider as if the nude
(podium included) was all gypsum and let
us abstract from any local colour." And later: "To learn, it is best
to use oil paint. (...) It does not have the corruptibility of watercolour and
pastel, where everything looks like taking shape immediately, even before it
was studied in the least. Because of this corruptibility of the colour, I am advising
anyone to consider sticking as long as possible to the design.” (p. 40).
[29] Rodin, August – L’art, Entrétiens reunis par Paul Gsell, in particular Le modelé, Éditions Bernard Grasset,
Parigi, 1911
[30] Rodin, August – L’art, Entrétiens reunis, quoted, ibidem.
[31] Von Lüttichau, Mario-Andreas – Paris! Ein Bild für den Salon! Paris?
Corinth zwischen Akademie und Avantgarde (Paris! A picture for the Salon!
Paris? Corinth between Academy and Avant-garde), in: Lovis Corinth und die Geburt der Moderne (Lovis Corinth and the
birth of Modernity), a cura di Ulrike Lorenz, Marie-Amélie zu Salm-Salm e
Hans-Werner Schmidt, Bielefeldt, Kerber Verlag, 2008
[32] Unfortunately, neither the text
of the letter nor its extremes are cited in the essay by Von Lüttichau.
[33] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 14
[34] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 16
[35] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 16
[36] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 5
[37] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 10. See also the section "Model and
mannequin" from page 93. "The model is the most important device for
the painter. It is the main helping tool in the formative years, and through it
the imaginative forms become effective images. (...) If the kind of models is
indifferent for the study phase, this is not true for the painting of images.
(...) If you are lucky enough to know someone that fits with the image, he or
she should be always preferred to a model professional. "
[38] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 46
[39] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 10
[40] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 42. See also p. 48: “The tough seriousness [der strenge Ernst] must continue to be
pursued also in any action undertaken in passing.”
[41] Klinger Max - Malerei
und Zeichnung, Leipzig, Insel-Verlag, 1885. See: https://archive.org/stream/malereiundzeich00klingoog#page/n8/mode/2up
[42] Morton, Marsha -"Malerei und Zeichnung": The
History and Context of Max Klinger's Guide to the Arts, in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, volume
58, numero 4 (1995), pp. 542-569. See: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1482810?uid=3737864&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104391015331
[43] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 41
[44] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 41
[45] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 41
[46] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p. 36: “In the first place, the nude should not be seen as a
man, but as a pure object. If you see it that way, as something that can be
repeated in the creation in other forms but under the same vision, it can be
used to create any new form”.
[47] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 36.
[48] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 36.
[49] Indeed, the study of the nude is
one of the main reasons of inspiration of the book: "My long-term study,
following the intensive work with images inspired by nature, especially the
representation of the nude, and finally my challenging activities as a teacher,
have always led me to the thought of wanting to write what I know and you need
to know." (p. 7)
[50] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 18
[51] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 36
[52] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 9
[53] It is very surprising that, after
having devoted twenty pages to anatomy, Corinth offers the following statement:
"But if someone were to ask me: is the knowledge of anatomy absolutely
necessary for the study of the design? I would answer: no. In fact - as well as
a man of taste, who has never seen a naked human body, nevertheless knows
immediately what can be wrong with a drawing, in the same way a talented
beginner can instinctively take the right decision according to his artistic
sensibility. And this would be exactly a sign of his natural ability. This
knowledge of anatomy is quite useful to the painter in making plausible - to
others and to himself - why things can be designed in this way and not in
another ". (p. 27)
[54] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p. 29: “For the design of the foreshortenings, it is necessary
to separate the surfaces, in order to clarify which surface is perpendicular to
the eye. To produce a human body, it is therefore useful to make use of the
boxes, depending on the need”.
[55] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 30
[56] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der
Malerei, quoted, p.12: “The foreshortening is the special feature of the
painting. No other branch of the fine arts can refer to it otherwise. Through
it, one realises the special feature of the painting: overcoming of the surface
and creating depth. This is the reason why this discipline has always been
cultivated by all painters with special care and passion. As well known, the
great Michelangelo brought this art to the highest level that one could ever
achieve and has therefore given to his figures a capacity of spontaneous
movement that is absolutely wonderful."
[57] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 35. “Finally, we must give prominence to the nurture
of the surface, which I wanted to clarify with the help of the construction of
the boxes ".
[58] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 41.
[59] Think of the famous letter of
Paul Cezanne to Emile Bernard, of April 15, 1904: "Allow me to repeat what
I have said here: treat nature by means of a cylinder, a sphere, a cone, all
put in perspective , so that each side of an object, of a plan, is directed
towards a central point. The lines parallel to the horizon give the extension
(...). The lines perpendicular to this horizon give depth. Now nature, for us
men, is deeper than the surface, hence the need to introduce into our
vibrations of light - represented by reds and yellows - a sufficient sum of
blue, to let feel the air". Cezanne, Paul - Correspondence, Bernard Grasset,
Paris, 1978, p. 375.
[60] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 12. The centre of the head is the position of the
eyes.
[61] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 22. Ingres is cited, according to whom the navel is
the eye of the torso.
[62] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 20 e p 54. Corinth explicitly rejects the idea that
one can draw the body starting from its contours (p.21).
[63] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 52
[64] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 19 e p. 34
[65] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted,
p. 39
[66] Hans Peter – Das Literarische Figurenbild (The figural image from literature),
in “Lovis Corinth 1858-1925. Gemälde und
Druckgraphik“ (Lovis Corinth 1858-1925. Painting ad graphik), Munich,
Prestel Verlag, 1975, pp. 76-92.
[67] Gohr, Soegrfried – Das Figurenbild im Werk Corinths, in: Lovis Corinth, Gemälde, Aquarelle,
Zeichnungen und druckgraphische Zyklen, Colonia (Paintings, watercolors,
drawings and printmaking cycles), catalogue of an exhibition at the (10
gennaio-21 Marco), 1976
[68] Zimmermann, Michael F. – Lovis Corinth, cit.
[69] Lovis Corinth und die Geburt der Moderne (Lovis Corinth and the
birth of modernity), edited by Ulrike Lorenz, Marie-Amélie zu Salm-Salm e
Hans-Werner Schmidt, Bielefeldt, Kerber Verlag, 2008
Thanks, I will place some quotes of Corinth with source-of-course on Wikiquote + link
RispondiEliminaMany sincere thanks
Elimina